Assessment of load bearing capacity of reinforced concrete bridge on the base of NDT results

Abstract

The article presents the process of assessment of load bearing capacity of the existing bridge as well as determination of scope and method of its renovation on the basis of complex non-destructive testing and material examinations. The assessment of load capacity of old bridges, used for decades, is usually difficult due to several reasons: inaccessible technical documentation, loss of the structure history, unknown regulations used during the bridge designing. Moreover, physical properties of materials have changed and structural damages appeared during use, what contributes to the overall process of structure deterioration. In such situation an advanced non-destructive methods of structural testing and material examinations are required to determine the type of the used materials, their properties as well as their arrangement inside a structure. In the example shown, the GPR and profometer methods are used in order to determine the amount of reinforcement inside the bridge slab and the impact-echo and pull-out methods were used for determination of its thickness and the concrete class.